The challenges of global climate change and energy circuitry demands have made the development of renewable energy alternatives vital for the future of mankind. The use of direct sun radiation on solar panels can potentially produce more than enough energy to meet the energy needs of the entire planet. As the price of solar power decreases and the pollution caused by conventional fuels rises, the solar business has entered a new era of worldwide growth.
In order to bring technologies to exploit solar energy one step closer and up to par with conventional fuels, the efficiency rate of solar systems must improve. Solar panel efficiency depends amongst other things on the cleanliness of their surface. Energy losses caused by dust and soiling can reach over 40%. In desert areas, where many solar parks are located, the soiling and dust problem is significant.
A fast growing type of solar park is the solar tracker park. The solar trackers have the ability to follow the sun's position continuously from morning to evening by changing their tilt angle from east (in the morning) to west (in the evening) in order to increase efficiency. Automatic cleaning solutions for solar trackers usually involve high volumes of water and/or the installation of special grids in the solar tracker park for moving automatic cleaners from solar tracker to solar tracker. Such solutions are not cost effective and require added labor for installation.
Autonomous robotic cleaners (herein abbreviated ARCs) for cleaning the surface of solar panels and solar trackers are known in the art. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,455,665, US patent application publication no. 2015/0272413 and US patent application publication no. 2015/0236640. ARCs equipped with rechargeable batteries need to be periodically recharged and also require a docking bay or parking location when not in use, for example during daytime hours when solar panels are generating electricity. In general, there is a tradeoff between the weight of an ARC and its stability on the surface of a solar panel and in a parking location, especially in high wind conditions. As the weight of an ARC increases it will be more stable on the surface of a solar panel, even at an angle and even during windy conditions, however if the weight is too heavy, the movement of the ARC might crack or damage the surface of a solar panel or any coatings covering the surface of a solar panel. A lighter ARC can be more cost effective due to less raw materials used in production and will not damage the surface of a solar panel. However such an ARC might fall off a solar panel more easily in heavy winds, might dislodge from a parking bay or docking station in strong and windy conditions or might be blown over the surface of a solar panel, causing damaging to the solar panel, to other components in the solar park where the solar panel is located or even to people or workers in the vicinity. There is thus needed a system and method for parking an ARC in high wind conditions and inclement weather conditions such that the ARC will not fall off or be blown over a solar panel during cleaning and will not dislodge from a parking bay or docking station even when gusty winds and inclement weather are present.